Bill de Blasio on Trump's tax plan: He might as well ask New Yorkers to take $1,000 out of an ATM and give it to a hedge-fund manager

Independent
US Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on the
New York City subway.AP

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio argues that the
Republican legislation to overhaul the US tax code would
disproportionately benefit wealthier Americans.

De Blasio zeroes in on the proposed elimination of the
state and local tax deduction for individuals, which would hit
New Yorkers especially hard.

Here we go again. The GOP has tried to pull this one on Americans
many times before. We've spent the last four decades being sold
the same, tired, trickle-down economics. We know how this painful
reality plays out. Our leaders steal from the hardworking
middle-class Americans to give to the rich and working people
slide deeper and deeper into economic despair.

Now, we have President Trump and Republicans in Congress trotting
out the broken thinking of the past with a tax proposal
that takes from the rest of us to give to the wealthy and
corporations.

They pay for this giveaway with everyone else's money. They have
to find cash somewhere and that almost always means raising taxes
on working people and the middle class while cutting the very
services and supports that help them. It strains belief that the
Republicans are describing this as a tax cut for middle-class
Americans. It is an attack on them.

De
Blasio in 2017 in New York's City Hall.AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

Let me give you just one example from the current Republican
scheme. They want to change the longstanding deduction of state and
local taxes that individual taxpayers and families take on
the federal form.

That would affect around 100 million Americans, most of whom earn
less than $200,000 a year, according to the nonpartisan
Government Finance Officers Association. Many of these families
would see their taxes increase. In New York City nearly 700,000
families earning less than $200,000 would see their taxes
increase under the proposed bill, with their average tax hike
exceeding $1,000.

The Republicans might as well ask hardworking New Yorkers to
withdraw $1,000 from the bank machine and find a hedge fund
manager to give it to. Meanwhile, losing that money will force
families to make terrible choices between food and medicine or
rent and tutoring for a child.

Americans cannot afford to pay taxes twice on the same money. So,
if the state and local deduction goes on the federal level,
localities may have to cut their taxes. That means less
protection from police. That means waiting longer for an
ambulance to show up. That means school classrooms becoming more
crowded.

Of course, the Republicans are removing the state and local
deduction just for families and individual taxpayers. Under their
plan, corporations are free to continue taking the deduction as
always.

And that's just the beginning. Their plan also calls for
eliminating deductions for major medical expenses and
interest on student loans, among other changes that will punish
working families who are struggling to make it — in some cases
literally struggling to survive.

Under their plan they eliminate a bond program that has been
vital for the construction and preservation of affordable housing
for low and middle-income New Yorkers, and make it more difficult
for communities to pay for repairs to roads, bridges, and
hospitals.

De
Blasio speaks in front of Trump Tower after his meeting with
president-elect Donald Trump, November 16,
2016.Drew Angerer/Getty
Images

But even a massive tax increase on the middle class isn't going
to balance the books. It's only a matter of time before the GOP
sets its sights on cutting Social Security and Medicare. That
means seniors becoming homeless and dying of treatable illnesses.

I agree with the president on one thing: We need to reform our
tax code. But I think we should be taking that reform in exactly
the opposite direction. Our tax code should address our country's
runaway inequality. It should ensure that the wealthy pay their
fair share, so that all Americans can reap the rewards of their
drive, skill and spirit, which have built our economy.

Let's start by closing loopholes that unreasonably benefit the
1%. Let's end the carried-interest loophole, which allows
hedge-fund billionaires to pay a lower rate of taxes on their
income than the salaries their secretaries pay. Let's increase,
rather than eliminate, the estate tax, which is paid only by the
heirs and heiresses of multi-million dollar fortunes.

Today, millions of Americans are working full time, living in
retirement after productive lives, and starting out their lives
with hopes and dreams – and they're struggling. If we're serious
about honoring the family, caring for our seniors and making a
world the next generation can thrive in, then we need every
American, including the wealthiest, to invest in our society in
proportion to what they've gained from it.

Let's reform our tax code to serve all Americans, not a
privileged few.